That's Not Going to Fix This
by missdallywinston
Summary: Ezra has a plan to win Aria back and it just might work. A hope for the 100th episode based off a spoiler quote. One Shot.


As Aria stepped slowly towards an abandoned building, her heart was beating faster and faster. Earlier in the day, she checked her home's mailbox, only to find a piece of notebook paper saying "Meet me at seven?" with an address attached. She hadn't seen her friends since she received the message, so she decided to be bold and go by herself.

Once she got closer to a door that was cracked open slightly, Aria noticed a trail of white rose petals. Aria, who thought that this little excursion had to do with A, was quite bewildered. Why was A leaving roses around the entry way. As she thought of the potential things behind the door, her breath caught in her throat. What if this was some sort of trap? What if someone was about to lock her up in a box again?

Aria typed in 911 on her cell phone, ready to dial it if something went bad, before taking a deep breath and pushing the door open further. Nothing. It was just an empty old building. She didn't smell anything but roses, which was sort of a good sign. It wasn't like A was about to trap her with a dead body or something.

She stepped back from the threshold, too afraid to go further. Maybe she should call Spencer and wait for her or just abort the whole mission. Aria shook her head a little though and decided to just be brave. She could hold her own.

Gulping, she stepped inside, the sound of her heels echoing in the silent space. "Hello?" she called out. No answer. She looked left and right, but still nothing. She sighed and slumped her shoulders, deciding whether or not to continue on.

Before she could make a set decision, she heard the opening of a song very near and dear to her heart. Her mouth went dry and if this was still A, it was a sick joke. The song continued a bit as Aria stepped further inside, one centimeter at a time.

The song progressed as her stomach dropped. _Happiness is just outside your window. _

It was her and Ezra's song. The very song that was playing when they met and he decided to play dumb to use her. Though, the song memory wasn't exactly tainted. It had been the first thing they'd instantly clicked on and Ezra had proceeded to use "B26" as various passwords and the title of a poem. A poem he had written and published about her. The innocent poem had nothing to do with Alison or A – it was just Aria.

About two and half weeks had passed since the dreadful roof top incident and Ezra and Aria hadn't patched things up completely. They had talked at the hospital, but the conversation had basically been Ezra apologizing over and over and Aria shrugging her shoulders, wiping her tear stained face, not wanting him to see her break.

She hadn't forgiven him and wasn't sure if she ever would. The two had been able to sort of sweep things under the rug and ever since he had been released from the hospital, Ezra had been helping the girls try to solve the whole a mystery. Whenever he and her friends got together, everyone could tell how miserable Ezra was and how desperate he was to get her back. He would try to sit next to her every chance he could. He would constantly ask her approval on any plans they made. Aria, ever since the rooftop, knew that he really did love her, but seeing him act like a lovesick puppy every chance he could made her both swoon and irked.

_Or is happiness a little more like knocking?_

Aria swallowed down the lump in her throat and stepped closer towards the source of the music. She shuffled around the old crates and boxes before turning a corner. Her nostrils filled even more with the fragrance of roses and the music was louder than before. She also saw Ezra leaned over when of the boxes, which temporarily worried her considering his still healing stomach.

"Ezra?" Aria called.

He shot up and let out a heavy breath. "Aria, hey."

She glanced around at the number of bouquets of white roses and raised her eyebrows at him. "Uh, hey?"

"I, uh," Ezra stuttered, sitting down on one of the crates. "I wanted to surprise you."

Aria scoffed a little and stepped closer to him. "By doing what?" she questioned louder than intended. "Scaring the hell out of me?" Ezra looked at her with his brow furrowed, clearly confused, causing her to add, "Ezra, you left that message in my mailbox, right? You can't do that. I thought I was walking into a death trap."

He sat up and walked closer to Aria. "I didn't mean to scare you, really. I just thought you wouldn't come if you knew it was to meet me."

Aria clenched her jaw at the assumption, knowing it was correct. "Ezra, what is all this all about?"

Ezra shrugged and pretended like the dozens of roses and romantic music didn't exist. "I thought you might like it." He went over to the source of the song and paused it, causing the space to fill with eerie silence. "I guess I was wrong."

His Adam's apple bobbed and he started up again with the puppy dog eyes. It hurt Aria to see him hurting like this, but he without a doubt deserved it. She was happy however that this time he was working for it. He had gotten so used to winning her back with a simple kiss that this was a nice change of pace.

Aria sighed heavily before sitting on one of the crates. She examined the white flowers all around her and chuckled a little. "So you're trying to win me over with Gatsby references?"

"I thought it would be a good start," Ezra laughed, sitting next to her on the crate.

She gasped a tiny bit at the closeness, before nodding. "Ezra, this is… nice, really it is. But all the flowers, and the music… _that's not going to fix this_."

Ezra ducked his head before looking at her seriously. "Will anything?" Aria chewed on her lip and shrugged up one of her shoulders. Her face contorted as she frowned disapprovingly at Ezra. He started shaking his head and turned to face her more dead on. "Aria, I know a lot has changed. But, I'm still in love with you."

"Ezra…" Aria warned.

"Please," Ezra begged, "let me finish." She nodded, so he did. "I know how much I hurt you. If I could, I would take it back in a second, Aria, I would. I know it will take a lot of effort for me to earn your trust, but if you'll let me, I want to try. I want to be the guy you fell in love with. I don't want you to think of me as the jerk who broke your heart, or the asshole who used you, I want to be to your one. That is if you still think I am."

Truthfully, she did. She knew he was the one; he always had been. Ezra stared at her, eagerly waiting for a reply, but he didn't get one. Aria just sighed and waved around the room. "So, what is this place?"

Ezra flinched at her reaction before answering, "It used to be this club that Hardy and I went to. They shut down, but it always sort of stayed vacated. I come here to think. I thought you would like the privacy."

"Yeah, I need privacy nowadays."

He lowered his head again and muttered, "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Aria questioned, not understanding the random apology.

Taking a deep breath, he moved closer than he already was and rested his hand on top of hers. He watched her almost wince at the touch, but was relieved when she didn't pull her hand away. He remembered how he had done a similar action on the ski lift and she screamed for her him not to touch her. Since that moment, he had obeyed and barely had.

He had bumped her hand "on accident" once when they were searching through potential clues, but it wasn't anything. Anything was handholding for them and the fact that Aria didn't reject the simple touch that had symbolized so many memories for both of them, it made Ezra happier than he had been in an extremely long time.

"I'm sorry," Ezra started, "for invading that privacy. I shouldn't have ever done any of it, and I hope you hear me when I say sorry."

Aria began to remove her hand, but felt Ezra's involuntarily clutch it so she wouldn't. Aria bit her lip to prevent from smirking, but put her walls up once she met Ezra's eyes. "Ezra, I need to ask you something and I need you to tell me the truth. Don't tell me what I want to hear, ok? Tell me the truth."

"Ask me anything," Ezra replied.

She sucked in her breath and asked, "Are you actually sorry about the book or are you sorry you got caught?"

"I'm sorry about the book," Ezra answered the second she stopped speaking. "I mean, I never wanted you to find out like you did, but I am sorry about it. I don't even know what made me keep writing it, but I never will again. I promise."

Aria nodded and believed him. She quirked an eyebrow at him and mumbled, "How did you want me to find out?"

Ezra sighed and stared up at the ceiling. "I don't know. Maybe one day when we were already married and I could tell you weren't going to divorce me."

Aria laughed very lightly before arguing, "I would never divorce you." She smirked a little at the rather odd comment before saying, "I'm still mad, but after that night in New York… I know it doesn't seem like it, but I never, ever want to lose you."

A dumb smile broke out on his face and Aria could tell it was exactly what he needed to hear. It was true, too. She legitimately _could_ imagine losing him and never wanted to feel that feeling.

"Aria, I know we haven't really tossed the 'm' word around, but I really do want to marry you one day. I can't picture my life with anyone else. I can't picture growing old or having kids with anyone but you. I want to have a life with you, a family, out of Rosewood. I love you." He paused as he saw Aria grin and felt one step closer to winning her back.

Her smile faltered however and she pointed out, "That life, it sounds great. But, Ezra, if anything else happens, or if anything else that you haven't told me pops out, I won't recover."

"I know," Ezra responded. "From here on out, I'll tell you everything. I don't want to lose you either."

"Good," Aria smirked before saying something cheesily romantic, "because I'm pretty sure we're soul mates whether we like it or not."

Ezra nodded in agreement and knew she was right. They absolutely were each other's match. She didn't believe that there was anyone in the world that she would be as happy with, and Ezra thought the same for himself. They were lobsters. "Well, I don't know about you, but I like it."

They settled into a comfortable silence before Aria broke it. "So what happens next?"

"We can go home," Ezra suggested. He saw the lips of Aria's mouth curl up very subtly and knew it was because he said home. He didn't say my home or the apartment. He said home because 3B was where both of them felt at home, safe, and loved. "Or go get something to eat. Whatever you want to do."

"No, no, I mean, you and me," Aria explained. "I mean, you don't have a job and my mom knows how much you hurt me. I doubt she'd be too supportive. And A is still out there. I can't let whoever it is hurt you again. You already got shot because of me and if-"

"Aria, you are not the reason I got shot," Ezra protested.

"Aren't I?" Aria retorted exasperatedly. "You never would have been on the rooftop if it weren't for me!"

Ezra shook his head. "No, Aria, no. I got shot because A held a gun to my stomach and pulled the trigger. You didn't. It is not your fault and I'm not letting you blame yourself. It's all in the past and I wouldn't change it anyway." She nodded, so Ezra continued, "And for your question, we go forward. I'll find work, I'll talk to Ella, I'll do anything for this to work. And once you graduate, we can move out of Rosewood as soon as you want and start that life we both want."

Aria sighed at his tone of seriousness, but it was a pretty good plan to her ears. "Is that what you want?"

"I'm positive," Ezra confirmed. "I don't care where we go. I'll follow you once you go to college and then when you want to we can begin that family."

She internally swooned at his statement. She wanted a family and a life with Ezra desperately, even though she was still young. It was just assuring to know he did too and that he would do anything for her. "Okay," Aria started, scooting so close to him that their legs were touching, "so, no more surprises, no more ex-girlfriends, nothing. This is it."

"This is it," Ezra repeated, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. He cupped her face in his hand and whispered, "Aria, I love you so much."

Aria, surprisingly enough, was the one to lean in. She hastily pressed her lips to his and immediately felt the sparks of electricity. Her hand wrapped around the back of Ezra's neck before she briefly pulled away. "I lo- I love you, too. So, so much."

Ezra smiled before leaning back into the kiss. After everything, his plan sort of did fix them.


End file.
